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Thursday, 25 October 2012

Berowra Waters and Quality

Back
into Sydney on Tuesday to pick up a telescope which we’ve decided is the ideal
house-warming gift for people who have a beachhouse with a view in every
direction. If they’re lucky, they’ll spot whales travelling up the east side of
Australia, and perhaps dolphins or sharks closer in shore. There was a heart stopping
moment on the beach when ominous triangular fins approached a surfer, but a
more knowledgeable onlooker assured us they were dolphins, and nor sharks.

I was hoping to find the same didgeridoo player on Circular Quay this year, but so far I've not been lucky. The sound echoes all around the Quay, and you just follow it to the source. Qualty of playing varies, but the one I'm looking for is good -it's just a pity I don't remember his name! try this as a sample: ClickYesterday
we took the car down to Berowra Waters, which turned out to be a stretch of
water that links, several miles away, with the sea. The road down was
single-track and hacked out of the side of a cliff, so not a good journey for
those who suffer from vertigo, though the steepness of the drop of was obscured
by masses of very tall, very straight trees. Foliage seems to flourish only in
the top section of the tree, so they’re very different to trees back home.

There’s
a ferry at the bottom so on we drove and were gently ferried across to the
other side where there is a restaurant, a shop and lots of power boats tied up
in the marina. We ate our sarnies, fed two ducks and generally nosed around
watching boats come ashore, pick up supplies and move off again. Some young
lads had trouble with an engine that refused to start. It was very quiet. Fish
jumped, herons fished and the sun was exceedingly hot. We debated driving
further, enticed by the road sign that said Wildlife Crossing, but checked the
map and decided against it. Distances are something else here.

NB There's a small book here entitled Writing a Novel. Glancing through it I noticed this in the first chapter: "Quality is the indefineable mystery of writing, the relationship between words, which is as much the product of the space between words as the words themsleves." It goes on: "A good writer is someone who can see quality in the world and can somehow translate that onto the page." Something to ponder in a quiet moment while I wait for the man who checks house alarms to arrive.

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About Jen

I write historical romances and historical novels variously set in Scotland, Dublin or the north of England where I have lived all my life. With so many wonderful periods of history to choose from I don't stick to one; from Vikings to Victorians, I love them all!

I'm rarely without a camera in my pocket and delight in displaying the pics on my blog. The beautiful Tyne Valley around Hexham features heavily, as do my holiday haunts and I can't ignore my beautifu Dalnatian dog, Tim.